Caleb's Birthday

This post has been a long time coming, and I wanted to write down everything somewhere before I forgot about it! So here goes....

My original due date was August 5th, but at the end of May, I started feeling lots of Braxton-Hicks contractions, but they were irregular. I thought it was no big deal, and it really wasn't. However, that is also the time when my blood pressure began to rise a little bit at a time. We were out to lunch one Sunday afternoon and I just felt "puffy." I had an inkling that maybe my BP was high. I stopped in a CVS store and took my pressure and sure enough, it was. Usually my BP runs about 110/70ish and on this day, it was 138/89 and 139/85. Yikes! I called the doctor and he said that as long as I didn't have vision problems or right upper quadrant pain, I was fine.

On the morning of July 12th, I woke up having non-painful contractions every 8 minutes, on the dot. This lasted for 8 hours, all night long.... so being the first-time-mom that I am, I waited until Mike woke up and told him about it. He suggested that I call the doctor, so I did. The doctor told me that I could either come into the hospital and be put on a monitor and he would see me when he got a chance... or I could wait until 9am and go into the office and wait for a few hours. We opted for the hospital.

We spent the morning there and found that I was having regular BH contractions, but that wasn't the issue. It turns out that my BP was well above the 130s/90s, and they would test me for pre-eclampsia. Long story short, I was put on bed rest and would probably be induced a week early. Bed rest was not so bad because I got to quit working (yay!) and my pregnancy would be reduced by about a week (yay!). I worked a million crossword puzzles, slept, and watched TV. It was glorious, a break that I really really needed with all the stress that had been in my life.

During my time on bed rest, I was required to come into the dr's office twice a week for a non-stress test, just to make sure my pressure isn't skyrocketing and the baby is healthy. This includes sitting in a lounge chair with monitors strapped to my belly, watching TV. Again, glorious. And the nurses in the office are absolutely wonderful, so it was nice to get to see them several times a week.

We went in on Tuesday night, July 26th to be induced. I ate one last big meal at TX Roadhouse and went to the hospital, thinking we might have a baby in our arms in about 24 hours. This was not to be. That night they gave me an Ambien (for what would be my last good night's sleep) and started Cervidil, a small vaginal insert that would soften my cervix and possibly put me into labor. The next morning (Wednesday), I had not progressed AT ALL. I was not in any pain, so I just sat tight and waited. After another dose of Cervidil, I had only made about 2-3 cm progress, and still no strong contractions. I was having them regularly, but they didn't hurt. This was nice, but I wanted them to hurt because pain = progress. Next the doctor gave me several doses of Cytotec, a pill inserted vaginally, and that didn't work either. The little dude was just not ready! They continued to give me Cytotec all day, but nothing happened. Overnight, they began the Pitocin, which I thought would kick things into high gear, but alas, it did NOT. The contractions were becoming a little more uncomfortable, but I wasn't in a lot of pain, just getting impatient. Normally to get labor going, one would take walks... but because of my BP being so high, I was only allowed a few walks a day and only 1-2 laps around the unit.

Finally on Thursday, they inserted a "balloon," that would stretch my cervix open and OH MAN did it ever. After several hours, I was up to 5-6 cm. Yay! IT was at this point that the anesthesiologist told me that he would not be able to give me an epidural, which I had prepared myself for. (I couldn't get the epidural because I have rods in my back from scoliosis surgery 10 years ago) I was in such pain that I requested some short-term relief in Nubane. This was an IV drug that was administered that knocked me out completely for about 4 hours. I decided to do this because I knew that I had a long day/night ahead of me and would need all my strength. The Nubane was amazing, but when I woke up, I was in full-on, hard labor. And before I knew it, I was at 8cm and then at 10cm! Time to push!

I pushed for 2 hours, and he was just not gonna make it out. Because of the rods in my back and their placement, I was not able to "bear down" and push like I needed to. Then Dr. R suggested a c-section. I really didn't want this, but I knew it would be best for the baby and me. I was completely spent. Dr. R told me that I was a trooper, pretty much endured every obstetrical intervention there is, to no avail. SO as I was in incredible pain and exhausted from pushing, they wheeled me into the OR for a c-section. The anesthesiologist tried to get a spinal block in, but was unable, so they knocked me out.

Caleb Michael was born via c-section (and me under general anesthesia) on Friday, July 29th at 12:19am. He weighed 7# 14 oz and was 21 3/4 inches long. Mike wasn't allowed in the OR so he sat with his parents and my Dad in the hospital room when they brought Caleb in to see him.

We had the most fabulous nurses the whole time we were there, I really couldn't complain. One, in particular, came back from the OR to the hospital room and grabbed Mike's camera since he wasn't permitted in there. She took great pictures, even got a shot of Caleb leaving my womb. Amazing! And a little gross.

Baby Caleb has been such a blessing. He started sleeping thru the night pretty consistently at about 8 weeks, except for a few times when he woke up around 4am. Now, at 3.5 mos old, he sleeps 8 hours! Not too shabby, huh? My MIL was there for me that first week home with the baby, and took such good care of me when Mike had to go back to work.

We were so blessed by our wonderful friends and family here in Indy and TX. We love you all! Again, I have no idea if anyone actually reads this, so if you have read this post all the way through, CONGRATS.

More to come later....
Rachel <><